


A Quiet Happiness

by cricket_aria



Category: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Finding Peace, M/M, Running Away, Wolf successfully flees with Kuro mid-game, teahouse ownership
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 04:49:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20901893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cricket_aria/pseuds/cricket_aria
Summary: Kuro knows that Wolf doesn't understand the happiness he finds in his teahouse. Sometimes he worries that he'd rather go back to the old fight.





	A Quiet Happiness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [crowtoes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crowtoes/gifts).

> No specific timeline in mind for when this happens, aside from being long enough for them to get settled into their new home, please go ahead and assume it's however long (or short) a time in the future as needed to feel comfortable with the pairing.

Kuro knew that Wolf never really understood how this could be his dream. How his young lord could willingly choose a life of serving others, how joy could be found in learning how to judge without being told which customers would like their tea strong, or sweet, or with what snack by its side.

He didn’t understand, but still he had followed. He followed even though Kuro caught him sometimes pulling out his sword to stare longingly at it, the reminder of the only other life he’d ever known which he never allowed to grow dull. He followed even when he had to bear the gawking stares and pitying looks from the customers they served, people who openly wondered how a man so scarred could be working in a teahouse only to catch sight of the empty sleeve where his Ningishu had been—now locked away with his sword to avoid awkward questions--and thought they understood that Kuro was doing him a kindness when truly they understood nothing at all. He followed even though it meant remaking himself more completely than he had in choosing Kuro over his Iron Code, learning with Kuro’s gentle guidance how he might continue to exist in a land at peace.

“Do you ever regret having come here with me?” he asked at night as he ran his hands along old scars, trying to soothe away any aches beneath his shinobi’s skin. It was question he didn’t voice often, for all that it was often on his mind, but it was difficult to keep it trapped beneath his tongue when his eyes and hands were fixed on such glaring reminders that Wolf had been built for battle. “You could have seen me to safety then returned home. I am certain there are battles waiting for you yet, my shinobi.” 

“I’m sure there are. But I would rather remain by your side, my lord,” his voice was a contented rumble for all that Kuro worried, and the title, given to him only in private now, sounded more like an endearment than a sign of subservience. “They will find you eventually, and where would you be if wasn’t here?”

From anyone else that might have sounded like the direst of threats, but from Wolf’s lips it was a simple statement of fact which they were both aware of. Someone seeking the blood of the dragon would surely find them eventually, for all that they’d run until the very soil beneath their feet looked unfamiliar before they’d settled down, but Wolf would be there to meet their blade and turn it aside when that time came.

“Utterly lost. That’s the only place I could be without you, my shinobi,” Kuro said quietly, smoothing back Wolf’s hair with soft fingers.

Wolf caught his hand and held it, studying Kuro with eyes softer than they had ever been back in Ashina. Perhaps gaining the ability to look that way on its own was worth everything else that he’d given up. “Besides,” he said finally, pressing a soft kiss to Kuro’s fingertips then pulling him down to relax against him, “if I were to return without you who would feed me sweet rice balls, or try to sooth these old aching bones? Better to stay serving tea than to fight a hundred battles elsewhere, I’d say.”

Kuro knew the worries would come back eventually. They always did, seeing a man so great give up all he was in service of Kuro’s simple dream. But for the time being they fled, driven away by the quiet certainty in Wolf’s tone.


End file.
